But as my Canadian-Chinese friend noted earlier this evening, it sometimes is hard for us who have lived elsewhere in the world that mid-autumn festival to fully realize how big a deal this festival really is in Hong Kong. To be sure, it is celebrated wherever there are significant numbers of ethnic Chinese people (including my native Malaysia -- as fellow Photo Hunter Bengbeng reminded me with his Photo Hunt entry for this week). However, the lantern displays here really do put most elsewhere's to shame.

Additionally (and especially this year) nowhere else in the world have I received so many mooncakes as gifts. So much so that even though I've given a bunch away, I still have enough "in stock" to have the gluttonous pleasure of eating mooncakes for another couple of weeks after the festive lanterns are put away, I reckon! ;b

It used to be that mooncakes were not for sale any time other than around mid-autumn festival. Now they are indeed sold at other times of the year but lots of people, including me, would not think of eating them at any other time of the year. A good thing too -- otherwise, I might get a heart attack or something as a result of eating mooncakes more regularly than I currently do! :D